APCC 2022 Keynotes
Keynote Speaker
Sione Havili, Regional Vice President of Customer Expansion at Domo, Inc.
Sione, whose parents originate from the Kingdom of Tonga, was born and raised in Glendale, Utah. His father Tevita, recently retired as a bus driver for 38 years. His mother Elva, was a homemaker who served as the CEO of the Havili household and successfully raised all 8 Havili children. After graduating from East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sione signed a letter of intent to play football at Brigham Young University. Prior to enrolling at BYU, he decided to serve Church Mission and was assigned to go to New York City. Unfortunately, after only 14 months out in New York City, he was implicated in retaliation to a gang related drive-by shooting prior to leaving on his Mission, extradited home to Salt Lake City, convicted of a 1st Degree Felony, and served time to pay his debt to society. Upon his release, Sione eventually earned a football scholarship to Texas Tech University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 2005.
Sione is currently a Regional Vice President of Customer Expansion at Domo Inc., a Tech company based in American Fork, Utah. He is passionate about helping other Pacific Islanders, Women, and any other under-represented minorities land break-through job opportunities in Tech. He’s also a strong advocate in helping Convicted Felons like himself find meaningful 2nd chance employment opportunities in the workplace. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Utah Polynesian Professionals. He speaks often across the country to share how he’s been able to overcome adversity and is in the process of writing an autobiography titled, “From a Mormon Mission to Maximum Security”. In October of 2021, a documentary was produced on his remarkable life journey titled, “Redeemed: The Sione Havili Story”. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart Lini Kioa, they have 5 beautiful kids (their oldest Destiny is currently a Freshman at BYUH), and they reside in Sandy, Utah.
READ MORE
Sione is currently a Regional Vice President of Customer Expansion at Domo Inc., a Tech company based in American Fork, Utah. He is passionate about helping other Pacific Islanders, Women, and any other under-represented minorities land break-through job opportunities in Tech. He’s also a strong advocate in helping Convicted Felons like himself find meaningful 2nd chance employment opportunities in the workplace. He serves as the Vice Chair of the Utah Polynesian Professionals. He speaks often across the country to share how he’s been able to overcome adversity and is in the process of writing an autobiography titled, “From a Mormon Mission to Maximum Security”. In October of 2021, a documentary was produced on his remarkable life journey titled, “Redeemed: The Sione Havili Story”. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart Lini Kioa, they have 5 beautiful kids (their oldest Destiny is currently a Freshman at BYUH), and they reside in Sandy, Utah.
READ MORE
Keynote Panel
Keynote Panelist - Rick Tolman Vice President of Global Demand at Salesforce
Rick is the vice president of global demand at Salesforce and a digital transformation executive with 20 years of progressive experience working for companies including Pluralsight, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Domo, CNN, eBay, Ancestry, and Sun Microsystems.
He is a proud Maori from the Ngati Toa tribe, a graduate of Brigham Young University, an investor, board member, and a philanthropic cultural leader focused on building pathway programs for Polynesians and under-represented minorities to enter and develop careers in technology. Rick is a founding leader of the Asia Pacific Career Conference bringing representation from companies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Twitter, Ancestry, Xant, Domo, Pluralsight, and other notable tech firms to build pathways programs with students and cultural leaders.
He is a proud Maori from the Ngati Toa tribe, a graduate of Brigham Young University, an investor, board member, and a philanthropic cultural leader focused on building pathway programs for Polynesians and under-represented minorities to enter and develop careers in technology. Rick is a founding leader of the Asia Pacific Career Conference bringing representation from companies like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Twitter, Ancestry, Xant, Domo, Pluralsight, and other notable tech firms to build pathways programs with students and cultural leaders.
Keynote Panelist - Andrew Taeoalii, Senior Software Engineer and Tech Lead at Twitter
Andrew is a senior software engineer and tech lead at Twitter for the Revenue Callback Platform team with 10 years of experience in software development. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and a master's degree from the University of Southern California, both in computer science. Over the past three years at Twitter, Andrew has worked on large scale service re-architecture to ensure that backend processing systems can handle some of the highest throughputs in the industry.
Andrew is Samoan and Hawaiian, grew up on Oahu, but now lives on Hawaii Island. He is passionate about giving back to the Pasifika community he comes from and now serves as the global co-chair of Twitter Indigenous, a newly formed business resource group to support indigenous communities across the globe. The goal of Twitter Indigenous is to bring broad awareness to indigenous history, cultures, and causes while empowering our community of indigenous tweeps and amplifying their voices.
Andrew is Samoan and Hawaiian, grew up on Oahu, but now lives on Hawaii Island. He is passionate about giving back to the Pasifika community he comes from and now serves as the global co-chair of Twitter Indigenous, a newly formed business resource group to support indigenous communities across the globe. The goal of Twitter Indigenous is to bring broad awareness to indigenous history, cultures, and causes while empowering our community of indigenous tweeps and amplifying their voices.
Keynote Panelist - Lianna Kinard, Vice President of Marketing, The Buckner Company
Lianna has worked in marketing for the last 15 years, 13 years of those within the insurance industry. Since joining the Buckner Company as vice president of marketing in 2016, she has been leading the company’s marketing efforts, generating innovative strategies while overseeing the brand communications for seven offices. Buckner has jumped 26 spots on the national insurance listing since joining the firm.
Lianna is passionate about education and giving back to the community. She currently serves on three advisory boards. She is the chairman of the board for Utah Polynesian Professionals, on the board of trustees for Hale Centre Theatre, and board of advisors for the American Heart Association. She has previously held positions for the American Red Cross Greater Salt Lake Chapter, National Fallen Firefighters, Utah Association of Independent Agents, and the University of Utah Children’s Burn Camp.
Her recent awards include Utah Business Magazine’s Sales and Marketer of the Year (2019), David Eccles School of Business Hall of Fame Rising Star Award (2019), Utah Businesswomen of the Year (2020), and Elite Women in Insurance (2021). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in marketing from the David Eccles School of Business and her master’s degree in management from Harvard University.
Lianna is passionate about education and giving back to the community. She currently serves on three advisory boards. She is the chairman of the board for Utah Polynesian Professionals, on the board of trustees for Hale Centre Theatre, and board of advisors for the American Heart Association. She has previously held positions for the American Red Cross Greater Salt Lake Chapter, National Fallen Firefighters, Utah Association of Independent Agents, and the University of Utah Children’s Burn Camp.
Her recent awards include Utah Business Magazine’s Sales and Marketer of the Year (2019), David Eccles School of Business Hall of Fame Rising Star Award (2019), Utah Businesswomen of the Year (2020), and Elite Women in Insurance (2021). She earned a Bachelor of Arts in marketing from the David Eccles School of Business and her master’s degree in management from Harvard University.
Keynote Moderator - Carl Sokia, Founder & CEO Experience Management Solutions
A figure-it-outer and self-described experience evangelist focused on the human experience, Carl started his career in the hospitality industry as an airport shuttle driver for a small hotel. His contagious positivity, commitment to customer service, and innate leadership ability led to his rapid ascent as a thought leader creating successful development, engagement, and customer service initiatives, overseeing the HR and people operations functions for luxury resort properties across the United States, including St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria and Grand America Hotel and Resort brands. Aside from embarking on his current entrepreneurial journey with Experience Management Solutions, Carl has most recently served as chief human experience officer and founding team member at the Farmington-based SaaS Startup, Life Engineering.
Carl has received global performance awards, including Utah Business Magazine’s distinguished Forty Under 40 award (2019) and the Human Resources Business Professional of the Year (2020), and recently served as president of the largest professional HR organization in Utah, Salt Lake SHRM. He is also a host of The HX Podcast featuring Carl Sokia, a podcast dedicated to understanding how personal experiences impact work today. He is a proud husband and the father of six daughters and lives with his family in Sandy, Utah.
Carl has received global performance awards, including Utah Business Magazine’s distinguished Forty Under 40 award (2019) and the Human Resources Business Professional of the Year (2020), and recently served as president of the largest professional HR organization in Utah, Salt Lake SHRM. He is also a host of The HX Podcast featuring Carl Sokia, a podcast dedicated to understanding how personal experiences impact work today. He is a proud husband and the father of six daughters and lives with his family in Sandy, Utah.